Foreign Banks in India

First Published: April 28, 2011 | Last Updated:November 27, 2018

There are two ways of presence of foreign banks in India. First is the branch form of presence which means that the foreign bank has its physical branch in India. Second is the presence through Representative Office in India, which is not actually a branch.

Foreign Banks with Branches in India

As of November 2018, India has 45 foreign banks with total 286 branches operating in India. These are listed in below table:

No.

Bank Name

Country

Branches in India

1)

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

Australia

3

2)

National Australia Bank

Australia

1

3)

Westpac Banking Corporation

Australia

1

4)

Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait BSC

Bahrain

4

5)

AB Bank Ltd.

Bangladesh

1

6)

Sonali Bank Ltd.

Bangladesh

2

7)

Bank of Nova Scotia

Canada

3

8)

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

China

1

9)

BNP Paribas

France

8

10)

Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank

France

5

11)

Societe Generale

France

4

12)

Deutsche Bank

Germany

17

13)

HSBC Ltd

Hong Kong

26

14)

PT Bank Maybank Indonesia TBK

Indonesia

1

15)

Mizuho Bank Ltd.

Japan

5

16)

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Japan

2

17)

The Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.

Japan

5

18)

SBM Bank(Mauritius) Ltd

Mauritius

4

19)

Cooperatieve Rabobank U.A.

Netherlands

1

20)

Doha Bank

Qatar

3

21)

Qatar National Bank

Qatar

1

22)

JSC VTB Bank

Russia

1

23)

Sberbank

Russia

1

24)

DBS Bank Ltd.

Singapore

12

25)

United Overseas Bank Ltd

Singapore

1

26)

FirstRand Bank Ltd

South Africa

1

27)

Shinhan Bank

South Korea

6

28)

Woori Bank

South Korea

3

29)

KEB Hana Bank

South Korea

1

30)

Industrial Bank of Korea

South Korea

1

31)

Bank of Ceylon

Sri Lanka

1

32)

Credit Suisse A.G

Switzerland

1

33)

CTBC Bank Co., Ltd.

Taiwan

2

34)

Krung Thai Bank Public Co. Ltd.

Thailand

1

35)

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Ltd.

UAE

2

36)

Mashreq Bank PSC

UAE

1

37)

First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC

UAE

1

38)

Emirates Bank NBD

UAE

1

39)

Barclays Bank Plc.

United Kingdom

6

40)

Standard Chartered Bank

United Kingdom

100

41)

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc

United Kingdom

1

42)

American Express Banking Corporation

USA

1

43)

Bank of America

USA

4

44)

Citibank N.A.

USA

35

45)

J.P. Morgan Chase Bank N.A.

USA

4

Total

286

Foreign Banks with Representative Office

Currently, 40 foreign banks are operating as representative offices in India. Apart from that, few foreign banks have entered into India via the NBFC route also.

What is the share of foreign banks in the banking business in India?

Foreign Banks account for less than 1% of the total branch network in the country. However, they account for approximately 7% of the total banking sector assets and around 11% of the profits. Most of the foreign banks in India are niche players and their business is usually focused on trade finance, external commercial borrowings, wholesale lending, investment banking and treasury services. Some other banks are confined to private banking and wealth management.

What is the RBI regulation policy towards Foreign Banks in India?

RBI policy towards presence of foreign banks in India is based upon two cardinal principles viz. reciprocity and single mode of presence. By reciprocity, it means that overseas banks are given near national treatment in India only if their home country allowed Indian banks to open branches there without much restrictions. By single mode of presence, it means that RBI allows either of the branch mode or a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) mode in India.

Some other policy guidelines of RBI towards foreign banks are as follows:

Banks have to adhere to mandated Capital Adequacy requirements as per Basel Standard.

They should have to meet minimum capital requirement of Rs. 5 billion.

They should need to maintain minimum CRAR at 10%

Priority sector targets for foreign banks in India is 40%.

Further, the foreign banks have to follow other norms as set by Reserve Bank of India.